Celia Tala and her son Gabriel, who collected his AS results at the college on Thursday

In the past there has been a trend of the best performers in year 11 moving on to some of the borough’s more established colleges but with a new, dedicated, sixth form building set to open in September, deputy head Bill Lawrence believes that could start to change.

“Across the board results are up and we’ve made really big improvements,” he said.

“We’ve seen a much higher number of boys meeting the criteria needed to go on and get a place at university and more of the top grades than in previous years.

“I think a lot of the success comes down to keeping your best year 11 students which in the past has been difficult with the allure of some of the bigger dedicated sixth form colleges in Islington.

“Year on year the number of boys staying has increased and we’ve got a brand new dedicated sixth form building opening in September.

“They’ll see this marvellous facility and the fact that we’ve had some great results.”

The stand out students at St Alysius were Sean McCarthy who gained an A* with two additional A grades and will go on to study maths at Bath University in September, and Henok Gheotom who secured a place at Bristol University studying economics with an A* in the subject alongside an A and a C.

Some students at the school who didn’t get their first choice university were there for help from teachers and careers advisors on the day.

Even students who were only collecting their AS results needed guidance on how to proceed.

Gabriel Tala, 18, is a scientist at heart, but somehow managed to bag his best grade, a B, in history – a subject he admitted he didn’t really like.

“I wasn’t expecting to do well but I got a B, but I don’t really like History,” he said.

“I only picked it at AS because I managed to do really well at GCSE – I was planning to drop it next year but I’m not sure now.”

Gabriel said he might even have to think about taking the subject at university if he couldn’t improve on his other results, which included Cs in maths and biology and a D in chemistry.

His mother Celia, who was the only visible parent in attendance, shed some light on the difficulty of guiding her only child through the exam period.

“You want your best for your children and you try to help and advise them as much as you can but in the end they have to do it themselves, said Mrs Tala, of Caledonian Road, Kings Cross.

“I said to him it’s not the end of the world – if you do well that’s great but if you don’t then we will work out what to do next.”

St Aloysius did not release individual statistics for the school but is part of the IC6 group of four Islington sixth forms, which together achieved 80 per cent of entries at A* to C grade and a pass rate of 99 per cent.

“Where to go for a drink near Great Portland Street?” was previously met with blank expressions and shrugs for those local to the area, not anymore, thanks to the opening of The Refinery at Regent’s Place, the eighth bar and restaurant from hugely-successful group Drake & Morgan.